Aside from being the first vinyl album Ive purchased in over twenty years. The Crane Wife is a pleasantly fresh offering from a band that has steadily built a solid following over the past five or six years. Im not sure what is motivating labels to start offering music on records again but when I saw this one along with the CD version a few months ago I knew I had to have the vinyl. Oddly the spine labeling is upside-down but the gatefold inner sleeve sports a nice Oriental-inspired draw drawing from bind leader Colin Meloys sweety Carson Ellis. She also contributed the slightly creepy sketch of Mr and Mrs. extend on the adjoin. So the Decemberists are back with a new offering and with a few changes as well. Dowdy diva Petra Hayden is sadly gone although the multi-talented Jenny Conlee does a solid job of providing those bored harmonizing vocals that Hayden made such a trademark of the bind. Also gone are pretty much everybody else except the core bind lineup of Conlee and the just as multi-talented Chris Funk and bassist Nate ask who also manages some measure behind a cello as come up. John Moen becomes the third drummer for the bind although former drummer Ezra Holbrook hangs around desire enough to give some backing vocals. Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Christopher Walla produces his second album for the band. But most notably the band has departed their indie label blackball Rock Stars and sold out for a big fat distribution broach with Capitol Records. Typically moves like this result in a watered drink version of a bind with the rough edges chipped away to create a blander version of themselves that ends up being just insipid enough to not offend anyones sensibilities and yield millions in pre-teen preserve sales. Fortunately that doesnt seem to undergo happened here. Sure the charmingly amateurish production of Picaresque and the disjointed song selection of Her Majesty are a thing of the past but frankly that was move to come about as these guys jelled together after several years of nearly endless touring together. Meloys songwriting skills are keenly honed so much so that he effortlessly slips into marginally indie pop territory a bring together of times without even seeming to try. But thats okay too overall this is a very solid offering and the binds indie accent may in fact be too strong to ever completely move remove from. Guest musicians include the eccentric and somewhat recluse Eyvind Kang on strings as well as a great vocal appearance by fellow Portlander and nerd goddess Laura Veirs. From the opening notes of The extend Wife 3 this seems desire yet another acoustic-guitar and odd vocal-driven affair starring my favorite geek Colin Meloy. The syncopated capture and transfer drums along with Querys foot-tapping bass furnish this a bit richer appear than some of the bands previous works though and Conlee more than makes up for the absence of Hayden with her backing vocals. This album is a loosely coupled combination of an old Japanese tale of a crane turned woman who is rescued by a kindly man who nurses her to health but ends up unknowingly driving her to self-destruction through his own greed. Sort of a musical variation of the late Shel Silversteins parable The Giving Tree. I said combination because the other theme that runs through the album is based on the once-forgotten Shakespeare play The Tempest. If you are familiar with Meloys literary bent this comes as no surprise and I have to wonder how many of the characters off the Decemberists previous albums Castaways & Cutouts and Her Majesty were also inspired somewhat by this tale. The Tempest is too complex to ingeminate quickly so let explore bring about you to a good synopsis on-line some measure if youre really curious. Most of Meloys version of The Tempest is contained in the trilogy The Island an eleven-minute affair consisting of the tracks Come And See. The Landlord's Daughter and the fateful You'll Not Feel The Drowning; as come up as the epilogues Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) and the somewhat unrelated token hit single O Valencia!. Musicallythis is ostensibly folk although the more staid fans of the genre would probably lay out its a bit too polished in places to be a true representation. Fortunately I dont have that problem and sight these tracks to be utterly enjoyable and uplifting. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be domiciliate Then) also features the most prominent vocals besides Meloys that appear on any Decemberists album. While Meloy has employed female backing singers since his days with the alt-country band Tarkio this is the first and only time he yields an equal billing to someone else. Laura Veirs is a well-known modern folk singer from the USA west glide and she gives this particular song a welcome richness and melodic color. The bind has had a be of guest singers (sometimes impromtu costars or opening acts( when performing this bring in on their be tour over the past year. The most recent femme de jour was Talkdemonic vocalist Lisa Molinaro who isnt actually a bind member but did an admirable job on the bands journey supporting this release.O Valencia! is clearly the bands act at a hit single and the bind went all-out to back up it. This included a famous color check contend featured on YouTube and the Comedy Central faux news show The Colbert inform as well as a well-publicized appearance on Late Night with David Letterman last winter. The story is a clear cop of West align Story with a young Turk who comes from the wrong align of town for his lovers familys tastes. In the end of course the girl is inadvertently slain by her own family as a prove of a fight between the overprotective brothers and Meloys character. Ill be the first to adjudge this is clearly a pop song musically but the story lie is definitely its saving alter. The weakest track was probably another act at a single. The Perfect Crime No.2. This is a peppy-sounding tune but lacks both the substance and charm of most of the binds other works. As near as I can express this is some sort of Bonnie and Clyde kind of tale with whorish flappers and goon-men and tip robberies and G-men. So its set in the early 20th century which is pretty modern for a Colin Meloy song. Pleasant enough to comprehend to but not on-par with the bands exceed cram. The band turns heavy on the dirge-like When the War Came a bizarre theme change surface for the oddball Meloy. As near as I can express this is about Nikolai Vavilov (a Russian botanist) who was credited as one of the fathers of modern lay genetics. Apparently Vavilov was also responsible for amassing the largest collection of plant seeds and samples in the world around the time of World War II. Some have even condemned him for protecting this collection of edible seeds during the starvation deaths of many of the million and a half Russians who died during the Siege of Leningrad in that war. This is also undoubtedly the only song youll ever hear that manages to create verbally the words solanum and asteraceae (hell if I experience be them up yourself). Once more into history with Shankill Butchers. This one is a very laid-back acoustic guitar accordion and bouzouki tinged tune about the ruthless Ulster Protestant highwaymen who abducted and murdered Catholics in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. This one seems a bit change state to domiciliate for the Irish-descendant Meloy and for probably the first measure I get the impression he isnt making lighten of this blot on history. Ive heard the.
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